THE OVERTIME OF FATHERHOOD
As I scrolled through Facebook (as I on some occasions do), I came across a friend who posted about his 21 years as a counselor working for the Youth Study Center. I can somewhat relate to him because I work as a residential counselor in a behavior program for a private agency with some youth who came from that type of environment but mostly with those who we could hopefully prevent from entering that environment. So it is with great pleasure that I dedicate this blog to a friend and father David Indikator Fuller. As I congratulated him on his 21st anniversary I couldn’t help but to think that our jobs run parallel to one another in a few ways and they are:
1)They are very challenging jobs yet rewarding, but with a success rate much lower than what we would like to see.
2) There is a very high inflow of youth who are committed to these institutions that come from the minority and lower class communities. While we can argue that some of these are fueled by civil rights inequality and social injustice, it is further exasperated, and fault can be attributed to absent and non-involvement fathers. With incarceration rates, disproportionately impact men of color: 1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men.
3) The endeavor to address literacy or social appropriateness becomes most challenging. Reason being that, even before we can even deal with those issues on literacy/social level, we are faced with the seemingly endless daunting task of unearthing them from a social grave. They become mentally, emotionally and spiritually buried under the dirt of an imperfect society with fathers holding the shovels because of their lack of involvement. Yes, we are faced with external factors that are placing our children in nameless graves; but it wouldn't be as bad if parents fingerprints weren’t found of the shovel. While one may say (even me), that social inequality and injustice play a factor; it is the parent's responsibility to providing their children with the nourishment and giving them survival skills needed to survive in an imperfect society.
Part of literacy is first dealing with the social obstacles and damages that impede it. That being said, we sometimes must become fathers to the fatherless as well as having an evangelistic effort to bring fathers back into the fold of responsibility. Fatherhood always has been more powerful than the negatives effects of our society. It always has been a force stronger than injustice, bigotry, stereotype, and classification. There is a saying that goes around in the social institutions; “As long as they’re here, we’ll always have a job.” While this may be said in joking, it is an unfortunate truth. And job security in this field is certain. We live in a society where more prisons and behavior institutions are being built while more schools, recreation centers, and libraries are being closed; where fathers are either absent or are poor role models for their children and community.
We are living in a society where the use of pills, laws, institutions, clinical and mental health professions raising our children, making fatherhood more and more obsolete.
“There is a cause that has the power to change the course of our society, heal the ills of our communities, and determine future of our very existence. It is a cause of great significance, but its significance has been weakened by the prison system, capitalism, social genocide, irresponsibility, and absenteeism. Yet, the power of this cause remains unmatched, unmistakable, and irreplaceable; its effects are certain and irrefutable.”~Excerpt from WHO’S YOUR DADDY?
“When men cleave to fatherhood as much as we do our social, political, & religious agendas, only then will we secure a future for our children and our communities.”~Excerpt from WHO’S YOUR DADDY?
“As for the incarcerated fathers; can you be a positive influence in the life of your children while behind prison walls? Can you still pursue fatherhood while looking through the bars of a cell? Can you reach out and touch the hearts, minds, and souls of your offspring while incarcerated. My answer is yes you can!”…” You may be locked up, but your influence as a father is free to roam to wherever your children are. You may be behind bars, in chains, surrounded by insurmountable walls, but even from the bars, walls, and chains of incarceration, you can touch the lives of your children.”…” Successful incarcerated father are those who make sure that the only reason their children will ever step foot in a prison is when they come to visit them.”~Excerpt from WHO’S YOUR DADDY?
Fathers are a diverse group of people, we come in all sizes, array colors, from many social, political and religious background, but we share one common moral responsibility that is greater than our differences; that my friend is fatherhood. With this vast array of diversity, our feet should be firmly planted on this common grounds and build around this common cause…fatherhood. We are linked by this common cause and bound by its common duty. There is no greater cause, for which a man should sacrifice himself for; and there is no greater duty that he will ever perform than that of fatherhood. “And yet with all our imperfections and human mistakes, to them (our children), we are the closest thing to God.” ~Excerpt from WHO’S YOUR DADDY?
For in the end when all is said and done fatherhood is not a Black, White, or Hispanic thing; it is a man thing, and when all men step up to the plate and do what fathers suppose to do we will have a less imperfect society. For though we are different our responsibility and the effect of involved fathers are the same.
Maybe one day our jobs will have a massive layoff because of the lack of need for our service until then take advantage of the overtime_Lol
